VON OTTER MEETS COSTELLOFor the Stars

No Wonder · Baby Plays Around · Go LeaveRope · Don't Talk · Broken BicyclesThe Other Woman · Like An AngelPassing Through My Room · Green SongApril After All · You Still Believe In MeI Want To Vanish · For No One · ShamedInto Love · Just A Curio · This House IsEmpty Now · Take It With Me · For The Stars

This combined effort from Anne Sofie von Otter and pop singer/songwriter Elvis Costello is astonishingly good. The songs, mostly soulful ballads, are unfailingly pleasant, even in their melancholy; some are downright exquisite. The arrangements, mostly by Costello, are tasteful combinations of electric and acoustic instruments.

Record Review /
Opera News (New York) / 01. June 2001

They make a mighty fine match, this internationally acclaimed classical singer and the eclectical rock musician . . . A mezzo-soprano in opera parlance, she makes the difficult transition to pop vocalist almost seamlessly. The result is a rich, gentle voice and a keen ability for lyric interpretation that often gives an art-song quality to the material. The CD has a pensive mood, with the duo¿s exploration of disparate pop elements: contemporary folk, Celtic strains, jazz, and light rock ballads.

Record Review /
Dorothy Clark,
Boston Globe / 12. July 2001

Von Otter has attempted something much more difficult and, for the most part, pulled it off with great success, which is to produce a genuine, contemporary pop album, albeit one by an adult, with the same sort of care in repertoire and accompaniment that is the hallmark of her more standard releases. To this end her chosen collaborator is the infinitely skilled and ambitious Elvis Costello. Costello has been, from his very first album, a remarkable artist . . . Here, drawing extensively on his own catalog as well as songs by such legends as Lennon-McCartney and Brian Wilson, Costello and von Otter have worked very hard to create a rich and diverse tapestry of popular song. Von Otter pretty much succeeds in sounding like a vocally gifted natural singer.